Examined whether 6 categories of counselor humor and 4 categories of risk interventions preceded client laughter in 236 events from 8 cases of brief psychotherapy. Found most client laughter was mild and moderate, with only eight instances of strong laughter. Humorous interventions led to more client laughter than did interventions that encouraged…

Describes the characteristics of humor, its psychological and physiological benefits, effect on learning, applications in adult education and training, and recommendations for research. (SK)

Argues that lists of great books ought to reflect both the comic and tragic sides. Discusses problems of censorship and of translation when presenting comic works to classrooms full of teenagers. Describes how the author approaches the teaching of Aristophanes'"Lysistrata," offering students a bowdlerized text and inviting them to improve it. (SR)

Analyzes E. Nesbit's late Victorian time travel novel for children "The House of Arden." Suggests that Nesbit's deflation of the past stems from her radical ideology, and that the comic relief in which each time travel episode culminates reflects her desire not to harrow her child audience. (RS)

Summarizes research related to humor in testing and presents new evidence on the effectiveness of humor in constructed-response items. Findings from a survey at Johns Hopkins University's School of Nursing indicated that students feel that humor makes a difference in their test performance. Describes specific strategies for using humor in tests.…

Reviews benefits of humor and the ways it can be used effectively in the counselor-client relationship. Suggests that the value in using humor includes strengthening rapport between the client and counselor, offering clients a less painful perspective of an experience, and providing a method of stress control. Provides counseling vignettes that…

Managers in English social services agencies (n=10) identified themes related to their use of humor in social care settings: asserting invulnerability; coping with reality; controlling anxiety; working with ambiguity, paradox, and incongruity; resisting the dominant order; and making sense of organizational absurdities. Implications for business…

Middle school students can be apprehensive toward the subject of science because, "we give them the message that science is the most important of subjects" (Flannery 1993). Why not consider using humor proactively as an effective teaching resource in the science classroom? The use of appropriate content-related humor can initiate and liberate…

A wonderful way to engage science students is to make them think a demonstration is not turning out the way the instructor intended. Basically, throw a little humor into teaching, and they will be hooked. Described in this article is a demonstration that uses Milk of Magnesia (MOM) as a visual and humorous method to review equilibrium chemistry…

"The Chemedian and the Crazy Football Match" is a comic strip developed by the authors to bring humor to aspects of the UK primary science curriculum. The comic strip was tested in six English primary school classes (years 3-5; ages 7-10); over 150 children participated in the project, together with six teachers. Children found the comic…

Four doctoral students and their professor contemplate the value of play in their high school and college classrooms. They discuss their experiences teaching children's books, student illustrations, and excerpts from magazines and newspapers that convey the intricacies of the English language through homonyms, homophones, homographs, and polysemy.…

This paper examines some of the various findings contained in the current literature on humor in the workplace. In recent years, the communicative role of humor in the workplace has received attention--particularly in management-related publications. Consequently, the paper explores the emergence of humor as a management tool and the advantages…

This book presents a series of personal essays in which the author analyzes and dramatizes the significance of subordination in academic life. Academic life is examined in terms of issues (such as sexual harassment) and structures (such as the figure of the dissertation director) but especially in terms of texts. The book looks at the stream of…

An assessment of the occurrence of three forms of humor (responsive, productive, and hostile) during the activities of 30 nursery school children. The three humor forms were not significantly correlated. The relation of the ongoing activities and the pattern of humor exhibited, along with the significant sex differences in humor expression are…